The present invention relates to pesticides and herbicides, and more particularly to the use of 2-propenal and related enal compounds for controlling pests and weeds on or around plants, especially crop plants.
A variety of herbicides are well known and have been long used to kill unwanted weeds in crop fields. Typically, these herbicides are sprayed onto the soil (pre-emergence), or onto the plants themselves (post-emergence). Pesticides are also well known, and are necessary for reducing the level of pest infestation in the soil around the area in which the plants grow or on the plants themselves. One such pesticide is methyl bromide. Methyl bromide is an odorless, colorless gas that has been used as an agricultural soil fumigant to control a wide variety of pests. However, because it has been discovered that methyl bromide depletes the stratospheric ozone layer, its use is being phase out. It is therefore desirable to find a replacement for methyl bromide.
It is well known that many herbicides and pesticides are expensive, quite toxic to the environment, and often times result in unintended consequences such as soil and ground water contamination, crop damage, spray drift on non-targeted plant species, and other health concerns. It is therefore desirable to provide an active compound that is relatively inexpensive, is less toxic to the environment, and minimizes the unintended consequences noted above, yet remains effective against weeds and pests.
Herbicides and pesticides also have a further disadvantage in that the active ingredient, as well as being quite toxic, has no function other than killing weeds or pests. In other words, the active ingredient typically does not have any beneficial effect on the soil or for the plant. Thus, it would also be desirable to provide an active ingredient that is not only herbicidally and pesticidally effective, but also may have some beneficial effect on plant growth.